After a brief conversation, Karen Zhao told us that Roger Lee had contracted a strange illness—he suddenly aged and then passed away. There was no pain; he died peacefully.
My chest felt tight, and I couldn't help but ask.
"Karen, did Roger take a photo before he passed away?" I asked. Karen wiped her tears, while Samantha Simons watched from the side. I caught something in her eyes, as if she sensed something too.
Karen thought for a long moment before nodding.
"Ethan, there is indeed such a photo."
With that, Karen got up and went to the bedroom. After a short while, she returned with a photo. I looked at it—it was just like the one Boss Zhang had. In the photo, Roger Lee's hair was completely white. He was only in his forties, but looked seventy or eighty, close to death. Even his smile seemed to know he was about to die.
"By the way, Ethan, since you rarely visit, why don't you sit for a bit? I'll go buy some groceries. There's not much at home to offer you."
I hurried to stand up, wanting to refuse and ask where Luo Yang was last seen. I planned to ask the Ghost Burial Squad, or even mobilize the ghosts from the apartment building, to help find Luo Yang. At that moment, Samantha Simons gave me a look.
I quickly sat back down. Karen went inside, tidied herself up a bit, and repeatedly urged us to stay and eat before heading out.
"Is there something here?"
I asked, and Samantha Simons nodded, standing up and looking around.
"Master Ethan, though I am a ghost, I know a little about feng shui from my past life. The auspicious position in this house has been blocked, and the evil energy is gathering. It's very inauspicious."
"Where is it?"
I immediately asked. Samantha Simons looked around, pointed behind the spirit tablet, and then floated over, reaching out her hand to the spot where Roger Lee's spirit tablet was placed. Slowly, a cabinet began to rise. I vaguely remembered it used to hold fruit and cups in the living room.
Roger Lee often invited people to his home for meals. I saw a purple Taoist talisman stuck behind the cabinet and quickly walked over. The writing on it was messy and indecipherable to me.
"Be careful, Master Ethan. This talisman is very dangerous."
I could feel it too. The talisman seemed shrouded in mist, something special about it, but I couldn't see what. The aura was cold and ghostly. I reached out, trying to remove the talisman, but Samantha Simons immediately stopped me.
"Better not touch it yet, Master Ethan. This house is strange—all eight directions have been turned into Death Gates."
I gave up for now. As my hand approached the purple talisman, I felt something was very wrong. I decided to come back in a few days and have Miles Mao take a look.
The cabinet holding Roger Lee's spirit tablet was put back in its original place.
"Ethan, last night I overheard Master Vincent Swallow talking about borrowing life. He probably mentioned it to you before, but you were so exhausted at the time that he didn't explain in detail."
I nodded and sat down.
"Normally, if you want to borrow life, you have to find a specific person and use certain Ghost Ward rituals for it to work. Entities like us—Blue Wraiths—can directly seize a living person's lifespan, but lower-level Blue Wraiths can't. With the right Ghost Ward rituals, though, they can succeed. I suspect that some Taoist or practitioner from the occult world has been here before."
Suddenly, I remembered—this place has surveillance cameras. If I ask Karen Zhao later about when someone came to perform rituals, I can pull the footage and probably find that person.
With that plan in mind, we kept sitting there. Around 5 p.m., Karen Zhao came back carrying groceries, looking a bit better. Then Samantha Simons convinced her to let me keep her company while she cooked.
"Karen, did anyone ever come to your house to perform rituals or anything like that?" I asked. Karen Zhao shook her head.
I was a bit surprised by her answer. As she spoke, her tears began to fall again.
"It's all my fault. I kept teasing Roger about trying to act young and show off, even though he was already in his fifties. Back then, he looked so youthful, but then he got that strange illness."
"Which photo studio did Roger go to for this picture?"
I held the problematic photo. There were faint traces of dark energy lingering on it, but not very obvious. It looked almost like any ordinary photo.
Karen Zhao kept shaking her head, saying nothing, just quietly letting her tears fall.
"Roger really never mentioned it?"
"No, Ethan. I only found this photo after Roger was gone."
I said a few comforting words. It really did seem that Roger never told anyone about going to get this photo taken.
"By the way, I think Roger might have told Luo Yang about it."
My heart jumped and I immediately asked,
"Where was the last place Luo Yang disappeared?"
"After Roger's affairs were settled, Luo Yang was supposed to go back to high school. But on the day he went, he didn't say a word. Later, the teacher called and asked why he hadn't come to class."
Karen Zhao searched for a long time afterward. Roger's former colleagues also helped, but no one found him. Luo Yang had secretly taken several thousand yuan from home and then vanished.
As Karen spoke, she hurried into Luo Yang's room. After a moment, she came out with a sheet of notepaper. I saw a few words written on it.